UKIP is "cleansing" the Tory party of extremists by attracting them to its banner, a prominent Conservative backbencher has claimed.

The MEP who said every Muslim has got to sign a declaration of non-violence, to me is literally akin to the Nazis saying Jews should wear a yellow star.

Robert Halfon

Robert Halfon, who has won regular praise from the Chancellor for his campaign to axe fuel duty, also accused Ukip MEP Gerard Batten of supporting a policy "literally akin to the Nazis" by suggesting Muslims should sign a charter rejecting violence.

In an interview with The House magazine, the Harlow MP claimed there was a "sinister element" to Nigel Farage's party.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage dismissed Mr Halfon's "hysterical slurs" and warned that his party could add the MP's Essex constituency - where he as a majority of less than 5,000 - to its list of target seats at the general election.

Mr Halfon also ridiculed former Ukip MEP Godfrey Bloom, who now sits as an independent after a row over calling women at a meeting "sluts" and hitting the Channel Four News journalist Michael Crick on the head with a party conference programme.

Mr Halfon said: "To me there are two kinds of Ukip - the Godfrey Bloom guy who's like a cross between Sid James and Bernard Manning, and then there's a much more sinister element, like the MEP who said every Muslim has got to sign a declaration of non-violence, which to me is literally akin to the Nazis saying Jews should wear a yellow star."

Mr Halfon, whose Jewish grandfather was forced to flee Libya to escape persecution, added: "I genuinely find it abhorrent and frightening. I'm amazed that man is still an MEP.

"How someone could say such a thing and then not apologise for it..."

But he added: "In many ways Ukip have done us an enormous favour because they're cleansing people from the Tory party that had these kinds of views, which is great because I don't want people who have those kinds of views in my party. So good luck to them, really."

Mr Farage, whose party is on course to push the Conservatives into third place in the upcoming European elections, remarked that Mr Halfon's comments were a reaction to "Ukip's rising popularity all over the country".

He said: "Because I believe in taking politics and the big arguments directly to the people, Ukip will now be having a national action day in Harlow.

"Let the voters of Harlow hear what we have got to say. I know that many of them are already flocking to our side."

Mr Halfon also used the interview to urge the Tory leadership to apply more focus on low income workers.

He said: "I believe Tory modernisation should be about one thing and that is being the party for the working poor - for people on low incomes. And everything else should follow.

"We may get into coalition again, we may even win a small majority of 10 or 20 MPs, but we'll never have a big majority unless we have a real narrative and working people think that we are speaking for them."

But he added: "I hate the phrase 'blue collar'. It's patronising and it reminds me of those old Tory grandees who would come down from the mountains and say to the workers in the factories, 'have some bread'. I hate all that. I prefer 'white van Conservatism'."